Saturday, 20 August 2011

Introduction: Bunty Pargeter welcomes you to Vaysey Pastures

Welcome to the leafy Vale of Vaysey and to my livery yard Vaysey Pastures!

If you haven’t been here before, I’m sure you will enjoy this beautiful area

with its pretty countryside and picturesque villages and hamlets.

Hopefully you will find something of interest about the lives of the folk in and around my yard, the liveries, staff and various helpers and connections.

My family, the Pargeters have lived in the Vale for generations. In the last hundred years or so, our fortune has stemmed mainly from Pargeter’s Mints.

A bequest from my late father Reggie enabled me to live my dream and set up my livery business, Vaysey Pastures twenty or so years ago.

It’s been a lot of hard work but we have just about survived and now live to tell the tale.

The yard stands in thirty acres or so between the villages of Nibble and Dibble on the northern edge of the Vale in the scenic lea of Benny Hill. Look out for the map showing the whole of the Vale.

We have what you would expect from a medium size livery business with paddocks for turn out, an arena for schooling, two large blocks of boxes, a common room and tack room for the liveries and my little office.

It’s been many a year since I last had the time to sit on a horse, since I have my work cut out running the place.

I couldn’t possibly manage without my loyal staff. Some of them like Enid Possett and Bert Postlethwaite have been with me from the outset, whilst others, such as young Eve Harriman, have only recently joined us.

Similarly, many of my liveries have been with me since we started such as Patsy Pottle, Tiffany Lampwick Joan and Betty Crumblewick and Rita Palgrave. My longstanding ladies are quite formidable in a friendly sort of way; they rule the roost over coffee and cigarettes from their common room overlooking the stables. I have heard their little conclave compared to the coven in "Macbeth," but I'm too busy to interfere and let them get on with it.

We have some newcomers on the yard including some brave late starters like Dolly Grubb and a rare male livery, Kevin Winkle.

We have all sorts in the mix including the trendy Podmores and our busy journalist mum Hyacinthe Crabbe-Legge.

We aim to cater for all ages and abilities and have youngsters with ponies such as the boisterous Hilton twins to teenagers like Dorinda Miggins – such a sweet girl. Fortunately everyone seems to get on very well with each other and my hard-working staff.

Around the yard we have a marvellous support team and are fortunate to have the expert veterinary services of Fred Marpleston and the brilliant farrier Kirk McGurk, who is so popular with our lady liveries.

A short drive from the yard is the Vale of Vaysey Riding Club, which hosts show jumping and dressage competitions for all levels.

On site we also have regular dressage and jumping clinics including by the well-respected international trainer Pandora la Gueriniere and German bereiter, Werner Flumpenhoffer.

The Tales from Vaysey Pastures start with some of my "longer established" ( a polite way of saying "older") liveries. The stories are listed in the Appendix opposite, so either click on the title you want or scroll down to find it.

At the end of this blog is a Glossary listing most of the names and places mentioned and hopefully explaining them with some short articles on horsey themes and even a livery quiz. Here is a taster of what is to come. Naturally no right or interest whatsoever is claimed in the delightful backing track

I do hope you will agree that we have much to offer at Vaysey Pastures in the unspoiled Vale of Vaysey. Please enjoy your visit.